Defining Jesus - I Am the Good Shepherd

We all want to have an abundant life. We all want life, dare I say, of fullness and joy, of freedom and fulfillment. But to have that type of life requires that we have the right voice leading us through life. The challenge for some of us is that we are unsure which voice to follow. The dominant voice of culture promises us success, acceptance and notoriety. The voice of our political party promises us peace and prosperity. The influencers from movies to sport to social media promise us happiness. So we are left unsure. This is just wrong. We should be sure that the leader we follow and the voice we are listening to leads to abundant life. I understand. I have let poor voices lead me through life, even when I knew they were not leading me to an abundant life. But having come to understand that only one voice leads to abundant life, I learned and am learning to silence the others. Though the outcome of following the wrong leader through life, or listening to the wrong voice or voices can be relatively benign—at least in the short term—there can also be catastrophic consequences. Most of us have never had to endure the leading of a truly dangerous person with a powerful voice, but many others in the world have, and their lives became anything but abundant.